Have you noticed there are half-marathons popping up all over the place?

BOB HANNA

Have you noticed there are half-marathons popping up all over the place?

Some 5,000 runners converged on Providence last Sunday for the Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon, and there's another one at the Myles Standish State Forest in Carver Sept. 15, part of the Amica 19-7 Race Series, which also includes a 19.7 mile sprint triathlon, a 10k and a kids Fun Run.

There are also half-marathons in Boston and Hyannis, but if you're looking for one closer to home, there's the inaugural Fall River Half-Marathon and 5k Oct. 21 at the Beacon Light Tavern on Commerce Drive.

Both races start in front of the Comfront Inn and finish in the Beacon Light Tavern parking lot. They tell us it's a flat, fast course through Fall River's North End and the Fall River Industrial Park.

The half-marathon will start at 8:15, with the 5k going off at 9 a.m.

Technical shirts will go to the half-marathon runners, while the 5k runners will receive T-shirts. Awards will include finisher medals for the half-marathoners and pint glasses to the overall and age division winners in both races.

There will be six water stops for the half-marathon and two for the 5k. Post-race refreshments will include fruit and pastries. The races also feature Chrono Track B-Tag Chip timing by Yankee Timing.

The races are being presented by 3C Race Productions, which also stages another half-marathon, the Wolf Hollow Half-Marathon, in Nashua, N.H., Nov. 25.

Twenty percent of all entry fees will go directly to Battleship Cove in Fall River, with additional donations to the cross country teams at all three Fall River High Schools — Durfee, Diman Voke and Bishop Connolly — for their volunteer work.

Half-marathon entry fee is $50 until Sept. 21, $60 until Oct. 20 and $70 on race day. The 5k fees are $20 until Sept. 21, $25 until Oct. 20 and $30 on race day.

For more information, go to jbrace.com.

They said it would never last, but Steven Leo's Airport Scoot at the New Bedford Regional Airport will celebrate its 25th birthday Wednesday evening at 6:30.

The race, which traditionally closes the Greater New Bedford Track Club's Wednesday Night Time Trials season at Fort Taber Park, started out as kind of a joke: a race with no T-shirts, no divisions, no awards and no refreshments.

That was all tongue in cheek, of course, compliments of race organizer, Leo Rodeillat. Everybody got a laugh out of it, but the consensus opinion was that the race would be a one-shot deal. It was just Leo's Airport Scoot then.

But the race endured and when popular track club member and close friend of Rodeillat, Peter Ryan, died rather suddenly from a heart attack in 2000, the race was dedicated to his memory.

Two years later Rodeillat suffered another loss, this one closer to home — his son, Stevie. The race then became Steven Leo's Airport Scoot in memory of Peter Ryan, the Leo in this case being Steven's middle name.

Mike Salmon was another former member of the track club and his name was added to Ryan's tribute in 2005.

So there are now three awards in the race: the men's winner receives the Mike Salmon Trophy, the women's winner gets the Peter Ryan Trophy, and the Steven Rodeillat Trophy goes to the Middle-of-the-Pack winner.

But everyone can be a winner in this race as all participants who registered by Aug. 22 (entry fee is $7) receive a personalized trophy with their name engraved on it.

Don't forget the Acushnet 4.1 mile race on Labor Day and the Fort Phoenix 5k the following Sunday (Sept. 9). More on those races next week as the rest of this column will be devoted to getting caught up on results of recent area races.

Daniel Croteau, 22, of Acushnet, a consistent top five finisher in local races, broke through for a victory in the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament 5k in New Bedford earlier this month. Croteau finished in 17:15, well ahead of the second place finisher, Helen Dinan, 31, of Bellingham, winner of the women's race in 17:52. Finishing third overall and second among the women was 18-year-old Marissa Snow of Boston, just four seconds behind Dinan with a time of 17:56.

The next four men were very tightly bunched. Finishing second in the men's race was 46-year-old Joe Francisco of Acushnet in 18:05. He was followed by Curtis Olinger of San Francisco, 18:09; Jason Korsmyer of Boston, 18:10, and Sal Corrao of Mattapoisett, 18:11. Finishing third among the women was Anne Preisig of Falmouth in 19:38.

The walk winners were Terry Correia of New Bedford, 34:21, and Celia Pires of Fairhaven, 35:12.

Neither won, but the Hughes sisters of Rochester stole the show in the Rochester Road Race Aug. 11.

Kate Hughes, age 12, finished second in the women's race with a time of 20:18 (seven seconds behind the winner), while kid sister, Meg, age 10, was a step behind in third place with a 20:19. That's a per-mile pace of 6:32.

The women's winner was Annaliese Vander Baan, 19, of Uxbridge with a time of 20:11. Finishing fourth among the women was Mary Cass, 50, of Wesport in 20:33, followed by Kate Diogo of Rehoboth, 20:48.

The men's winner was Andy Sukeforth, 20, of Middleboro in 16:45. Finishing second was Nick Pacheco, 17, of Rochester in 17:31, followed by Sal Corrao of Mattapoisett, 18:03.